Friday News: Brutal Heat Wave 100% Consistent with Climate Crisis; “Trump Lies About Racist Rally Chant”; “This Was a Fascist Rally Down to Its Bones”; “Fears of violence grow amid Trump race storm”; “Opioids flood a remote Virginia valley”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, July 19.

• Trump Administration Escalates Iran Conflict After Month of Peace, if Not Quiet
• Iran Rebuffs Trump Assertion That U.S. Ship Downed Drone
• Tensions With Iran Reach the Point of Inevitability (“Even though both sides insist they don’t want war, the existing tensions, combined with Iran’s anger at being denied the benefits of the nuclear agreement, mean that one miscalculated provocation could lead to a larger conflagration.”)
• Brexit: Scheme to block no deal ‘could involve Queen’
• Searing heat grips much of the U.S. — with the worst of it still to come for many (This is the global climate crisis right here.)
• Racist tweet became a rally chant in 3 days (“President Trump may have aimed for deniability — but his supporters seemed to know what he meant.”)
• Trump faces new hit on deficit (Under Republicans, deficits and the debt explode. Happened under Reagan, Bush, and now Trump. In contrast, Clinton slashed the deficit he inherited, as did Obama. Sensing a pattern here?)
• Fed Officials Shake Markets With Rate Cut Comments (“New York Fed walks back Williams comments as only ‘academic’”)
• FBI believed Trump was closely involved in hush-money scheme, unsealed documents show
• New court docs implicate Trump in the illegal hush-money scheme that landed Cohen in jail (“Hope Hicks was also implicated in a tranche of unredacted documents released Thursday.”)
• Trump Voters Are Not the Only Voters (“They are, in fact, in the minority — so why do the media and Democratic leaders seem so obsessed with them?” Just like the media was obsessed with the “Tea Party?”)
• E.P.A. Won’t Ban Chlorpyrifos, Pesticide Tied to Children’s Health Problems (Corrupt as shit.)
• What Americans Do Now Will Define Us Forever (“If multiracial democracy cannot be defended in America, it will not be defended elsewhere.”)
• The House just passed a $15 minimum wage. It would be the first increase in a decade.
• Democrats plot new plan to press Mueller on Trump’s alleged crimes
• The Memo: Fears of violence grow amid Trump race storm
• Trump outdoes himself with latest display of rank hatred and rancid bigotry (“Our national nightmare will end when white Americans decide they can no longer tolerate Trump’s racist behavior”)
• Trump’s field-tested strategy: Whip up a frenzy, then disavow (“The president’s latest episode followed a repeated Trump tactic of pushing his rhetoric over the line — and then shrugging off responsibility.”)
• Trump chooses open racism. What does his party choose? (“Stuart Stevens is a writer and Republican political consultant.”)
• Trump blames his supporters for echoing his racist words
• The Push to Impeach Trump Is Far from Over (“Representative Al Green’s efforts to impeach the President are steadily gaining support among the Democratic caucus.”)
• A racist chant is not what patriotism looks like. This is. (Nope, this is the antithesis of patriotism.)
• Republicans Don’t Want Racist Chants to Define Them — Just Racist Policies
• Trump says he disagrees with ‘send her back’ chants, despite fanning flames for days
• Trump has become the voice of insecure white Americans (“The next 16 months must be a referendum on Trump’s weaponized racism. The answer must be a resounding no.”)
• Trump is building his reelection campaign on a foundation of racism
• How a racist tweet became a Trump rally chant in three short days
• Trump’s racism is part of his larger con (“The Trump Show isn’t exactly popular, but it does mask a plutocratic agenda that’s even less palatable.”)
• This Was a Fascist Rally Down to Its Bones (“The president* is proud of the monster he has created. He glories in the destruction and the almighty rage.”)
• Trump disavows ‘send her back’ rally chant, many Republicans alarmed (Trump lied, and lied, and lied some more. Just watch the video yourself.)
• Trump falsely claims he tried to stop ‘Send her back!’ chants about Rep. Ilhan Omar (“Another Four Pinocchios.”)
• Trump to Nominate Eugene Scalia for Labor Secretary Job (Like far-right father, like far-right son, I presume?)
• No matter which healthcare plan you support, Democrats have a leg-up on Trump
  
• How the Ilhan Omar Marriage Smear Went From Fever Swamp to Trump (“The curious journey of the unproven rumor that Omar married her brother to get him citizenship—from an obscure Somali diaspora forum to the president.”)
• Bill Barr Is Earning Every Dime They’re Paying Him (“Another investigation into the president* has short-circuited.”)
• Second 2020 Democratic debate to feature Biden-Harris rematch (“The first night will feature U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, making it a likely competition between the two high-profile progressives, who will be flanked by more moderate, lesser-known candidates.”)
• 2nd Democratic Primary Debate Matchups Set: Sanders Vs. Warren and Biden Vs. Harris
• Poll Shows Biden Leading Field With 25% Support: Campaign Update (“Biden had 25% support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, the survey showed. Sanders and Warren were tied at 16% and Harris at 14%.”)
• Stephen Miller Keeps His Head Down as Trump Makes His Nativist Dreams Come True (“The president’s nationalistic rhetoric and policies on immigration may be ramping up, but one voice is conspicuously absent.”)
• Rand Paul accuses Jon Stewart of being ‘part of left-wing mob’ after criticism over 9/11 victim fund (No, Rand Paul is just a sociopath and right-wing extremist.)
• Crowd chanting ‘welcome home Ilhan’ greets Omar at airport
• Poll: McConnell is most unpopular senator (“McConnell leading the list of the country’s 10 most unpopular senators with a 50 percent job disapproval rating.” Should be 100% disapproval.)
• Virginia Pastor Defends ‘America: Love or Leave It’ Church Sign Amid Controversy (It’s indefensible and certainly not consistent with the Gospels.)
• Sen. Mark Warner weighs in ahead of Mueller hearing on Capitol Hill
• House Votes to Raise Minimum Wage, with Almost All Dems (Including All 7 From Virginia) Voting Yes, Almost All Republicans (Including All 4 from Virginia ) Voting No
• DLCC: Will Any Virginia Republicans Stand Up To Trump’s Racism? (“As Elie Wiesel said, ‘Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”)
• New Morning Consult Polls: Sen. Mark Warner +18 Net Approval, Sen. Tim Kaine +9, Gov. Ralph Northam +5
• Trump effect the top question in Virginia’s key elections (“‘That is the big thing I wrestle with every single day: Do we have the same intensity that we had in ’17?’ said former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who has been actively raising money and campaigning with state Democrats this year.”)
• Opioids flood a remote Virginia valley (“Pills by the millions found their way to a city tucked in Virginia coal country, according to a Post analysis of federal data on the manufacture and sale of opioids.”)
• Immigrant From Pakistan, Candidate for Prince William Board of County Supervisors, “Extremely Hurt and Angered” at Trump’s “Go Back to the Countries They Came From” Comments
• BREAKING: Hard-Right Del. Nick Freitas Fails to File Properly, Announces He’s Withdrawing His Candidacy
• GOP Del. Nick Freitas tells election officials he’s withdrawing as a candidate (“It’s not clear if Freitas, R-Culpeper, is giving up entirely. A provision in state law allows parties to nominate a replacement, which could be Freitas or someone else, after the normal filing deadline if a candidate withdraws or dies. It’s not clear that tactic would hold up in court as a workaround for late paperwork.”)
• Feds reconsidering permit for power lines near historic Jamestown, but there’s a hitch: They’re already built (“Dominion Energy rushed to build despite court challenge, saying the project is too crucial to delay.”)
• Protester arrested for blocking path of Mountain Valley Pipeline (“She is the seventh person to do so in 2019”)
• Northam announces broadband expansion, faces pipeline opponents (“I just want to ask him, ‘what planet are your children going to be living on?”)
• Governor announces new state office for outdoor recreation in stop at Carvins Cove
• Virginia’s community colleges will offer programs with guaranteed transfer credits next fall
• AG Mark Herring Reiterates Call for Marijuana Reform as Arrests Continue to Rise
• Free tuition coming to Virginia community colleges under service program, governor says
• Virginia left its thumbprints on Apollo 11 mission
• Supreme Court of Virginia rejects Morrissey’s bid to win back his law license
• Morgan Goodman: Why We Stay And Fight Instead Of Turn And Run
• Far-Right, Mark Levin-Endorsed Geary Higgins Asks, “Is There No Civility Left?”
• New 5G cellphone antennas coming to Virginia Beach, but leaders worry (“The idea of more metal clutter in the resort area is irking some resort leaders. Utility poles and equipment already interrupt the free-flowing landscape, they argue.”)
• Cyclist famously flipped off the president’s motorcade. Now she is running for office. (“Juli Briskman, who got fired for giving the middle finger as President Trump left his Sterling golf club, wants to serve on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.”)
• Hanover Planning Commission votes against approval of massive mixed-use project
• The hottest weather in years is on its way. Here’s what to expect as temperatures near 100.